The Engagement of Partners
by Blood.Laws.and.Wands
Summary: Sequel to Starting Over. Liv and El are now engaged. The ups and downs of their partnership as detectives and as fiancees. Kidnappings, murders, orphanages, interns, and sickness. Rating T for now, may have to go up to M later. E/O


**I'm back!! :)**

**A/N: Here you go folks; it's the sequel to Starting Over. Things this time are going to be different and more complicated than ever before, I'm going to shock you and surprise you. Buckle up and get ready for the ride. ( its kinda short, but i was so excited to go ahead and get this show on the road!)  
I decided that it would be a lot easier and less stressful for me to get a beta to do the dirty work for me :) so, I went throught the Beta page thing…and voila! I found a pretty great one ;)  
I want to give a huge shout out to my beta LivandElforlife! Thanks!!**

**Disclaimer: Definitely not mine………**

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"Dickie, Lizzie, get your butts down here right now. I'm walking out the door in 5 seconds."

Olivia Benson slipped on her shoes from her current position at the bottom of the stairs and hurried to the kitchen. She grabbed three packs of pop-tarts, two cans of Sprite, and her travel mug of tea before making her way out the front door. Just as she was opening her car door, the twins burst through the front door, running to the car. Olivia couldn't help but smile as the two shouted apologies the whole way; Lizzie slid into the front seat and took the "breakfast" Olivia offered.

"Gee Liv, you sure have had no problem taking on this mom-thing, have you?" Lizzie grinned and nudged Olivia with her elbow to let her know she was joking.

"Yeah, you're tougher than Dad." Dickie grinned and accepted his food. "Okay I take that back, dad never remembers to make us breakfast."

"Dickie, I hardly consider taking pop-tarts and sodas out of the box making breakfast." Olivia put the car in drive and pulled onto the street, heading in the direction of the twins' school.

"Well we do," Lizzie piped up. "And you get super extra bonus points for taking us to school. We hate that bus."

Olivia laughed and pointed her finger at both kids. "Yeah, yeah. Now, do we tell your dad that I take you guys to school?"

"No way. Dad's an old fuddy-duddy. He won't let us walk to school because he says it's too dangerous, but he makes us ride the bus which is equally as dangerous." Dickie finished his pop-tarts and handed the wrapper up to Lizzie to throw away in the mini plastic bag up front.

Lizzie threw it away before replying, "Yeah, we enjoy this three-day-a-week ride to school way too much to rat you out."

"Good, I'm glad we understand each other," Olivia teased with a smile as she pulled the car over to the sidewalk about 10 yards from the school. "Okay, I'm going to drop you guys off right here so I don't have to get in that traffic down there."

"Thanks Liv. Love you, see you tonight." Dickie grabbed his bag and hopped out of the car.

"Love you too Dickie." Olivia smiled as Dickie waved and jogged off to catch up with friends.

"I love you Liv. You guys be safe out there today, okay?" Lizzie pulled Olivia into a hug before getting out of the car.

"We will. Love you too sweetie."

Olivia smiled and settled back into her seat for the 20 minute drive into the city. As she crawled along with the morning traffic, she let her mind drift back over the past few weeks. Since Kathy was still trying to recoup and get herself together, the twins now stayed with Elliot and Olivia on the weekdays and went to Kathy's on the weekend. Kathleen and Maureen alternated who they visited with on the weekends, but often met Olivia for lunch. Elliot and Olivia had arranged it with Cragen so that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Olivia came into work after the twins were off to school and Elliot went in at the usual time; on Tuesdays and Thursdays it was the opposite. It worked well for everyone involved, especially Olivia; it gave her more bonding time with the twins. Olivia knew Elliot wouldn't mind very much that she took the kids to school on her days with them, but it was fun keeping a secret just between her and the twins. Olivia smiled and just relished in the bliss that her life had become. She knew that things wouldn't stay this great forever, but they would handle that when the time came. A short while later, when she was two blocks from the precinct, her phone rang.

"Benson."

"Hey, Captain's called a short meeting. You almost here?" Elliot's voice bellowed over the line.

"Yeah, be there in a few."

"Okay. Bye Liv."

"Bye. Hey El?"

"Yeah babe?"

"I love you." Olivia smiled as she pulled into the precinct parking lot.

She could hear the grin in his voice. "I love you too babe."

As she flipped her phone closed she pushed it into her pocket and turned the car off, sticking her keys in her pocket as well.

* * *

"Good mornin' Liv." As soon as she stepped off the elevator, Olivia fell into step with Fin.

"Morning Fin. What's up?" Olivia scanned the room for Elliot but instead, her eyes fell on Munch. "Oh my God. Is Munch wearing….shorts?"

Fin laughed and nodded his head. "Yup babygirl, welcome to yo worst nightmare."

Olivia covered her mouth in disbelief. "No way. In all the years I've been working with him, never have I ever seen those knobby white knees."

"It's something I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing." Elliot walked up to the pair and kissed Olivia on the cheek. "Mornin' babe."

"Hey El." Olivia smiled and patted his cheek. "So, why in the world is he wearing shorts?"

Fin just shook his head. "No clue, I ain't had the guts to bring it up yet. Not quite sure if I want to."

Liv, the most curious of the group, walked right up to Munch. "Hey John."

He pushed his chair back and stood to greet Olivia, which caused his knees to appear even knobbier, which, in turn, caused Fin and Elliot to crack up. Munch eyed them suspiciously before speaking. "Hey Liv. How are you?"

"I'm just fine. Hey Munch…why are you wearing shorts?" Olivia pointed at his bare legs.

Munch laughed a huge hearty laugh and leaned really close to Olivia and whispered, "I spent the night….off, last night. This is all I had in my car."

Olivia grinned and nudged his shoulder. "Uh oh John. Say no more, please. I really don't need that image."

Just as Fin and Elliot walked up to join the conversation, Captain Don Cragen walked out of his office and motioned for them to join him.

"Alright gang, I've got some news for us. And a case. First the news." Cragen sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Understand that this is not my doing and that I can't do anything about it right now."

"Oh geez." Fin imitated the captain, crossing his arms.

"IAB says our paperwork isn't getting done fast enough but they understand that our caseload prevents that from happening. So, they have hired an intern to come in and help out with paperwork, phone calls, etcetera." Cragen paused and waited for their reactions.

"Well I don't know how fond I'll be of someone coming in to be running around doing our jobs, but less paperwork is always a plus." Olivia nodded and put her hands in her pockets, fiddling with her keys.

"Eh. She better be getting her own desk." Munch peered at Cragen over the top of his glasses.

"We'll see how it goes." Fin shrugged nonchalantly.

Everyone looked to Elliot, the defensive territorial one, for his response.

He just shrugged. "As long as whoever it is stays out of my way and gets their work done, I see no problems."

Cragen nodded and sighed before handing Olivia a sticky note. "They'll be here in about 30 minutes. In the meantime, Elliot and Olivia, you two need to head over to this address. Violent kidnapping of a child. Go."

Elliot grabbed his car keys from his desk and he and Olivia headed for the elevator.

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**Well? What did you think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know!**

**Next chapter coming soon :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**--EandOalways**


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